When you can play on the same team as Mike Trout, widely acknowledged as the best player of his generation, and can still be the most-talked-about member of the Los Angeles Angels...that's real star power.
That's also Shohei Ohtani, the lone player in the modern era who splits time between pitching and being a position player. And not just any old position player -- one who ranked third in the majors in homers (10) and tied for second in extra-base hits (21), tied for fifth in total bases (78), sixth in runs scored (26) and 10th in stolen bases (six) -- coming into the start of the Angels series at Fenway.
Wherever he goes, Ohtani attracts attention and media coverage. The Fenway press box was as full as its been for any game since the start of the pandemic Friday night, with a regular traveling party of nearly a dozen Japanese reporters chronicling Ohtani's every move.
Understand, though, that this is no curiosity or sideshow -- Ohtani is the real thing, capable of throwing a fastball 100 mph in one inning and the next, capable of blasting a 420-foot homer with an exit velocity of 110 mph. In the last five or six seasons, it's become almost commonplace to see a position player take the mound in a blowout to save the rest of the pitching staff. But there's a mammoth difference between throwing a novelty pitch like a knuckler at 58 mph for one inning and taking a regular turn in a team's rotation -- all the while establishing yourself as one of the game's most dangerous hitters.
Ted Williams once famously said that hitting a baseball is the single-hardest thing to do in sports. Ohtani does that, then takes the mound to demonstrate to opposing hitters just how difficult it is.
Bobby Dalbec was a successful pitcher/third baseman at the University of Arizona, but of course, that's not terribly uncommon at the college level. If there's anyone who can appreciate those same dual skills at the major league level, it's Dalbec.
"The dude's special. Special player,' gushed Dalbec. "Special talent. Seems to be an awesome teammate, so it's pretty cool to see what he's doing.''
Dalbec recalls his two-position time fondly, but noted: "It's a lot to handle, too. I think he's hitting in the middle of the lineup and trying to go six or seven innings every (time) in the major leagues. That's pretty crazy, honestly.''
To date, Ohtani has had mixed success on the mound. While his fastball is indeed elite and his splitter a dominant pitch, his command often prevents him from going deep into games. Over five starts, he's averaging a tick over five innings per outing. His starts sometime involve long at-bats with endless foul balls, and his control remains an issue, with 20 walks in 25.1 innings.
But there are hints that Ohtani is beginning to figure things out. His last start, earlier this week, was perhaps the best of his nascent MLB career: one run on just four hits allowed over seven innings with just one walk to go with 10 strikeouts. And what Ohtani lacks in length, he makes up for in dominance. He sports a 2.10 ERA and the hitters are batting just .126 against him.
That outing, in Houston, precludes Ohtani from pitching this weekend at Fenway, denying Red Sox fans a chance to see him on the mound as well as the batter's box. The mere knowledge, however, that's he's doing that, and at the highest level in the world, is enough to fill one with awe.
In the meantime, Ohtani is good enough to hit second -- where some of the game's best hitters are often placed -- while brandishing a smooth swing that could be confused with an elite backhand stroke. Powerful enough to send homers to the deepest reaches of any ballpark, he's also artful enough to go with the pitch when necessary. As if he were calmly returning serve in a weekend match, he stroked a double down the left-field line for the first hit in Friday's game.
Later, with two out in the sixth, he flicked his bat and somehow sent a curve, low and outside, into the second row of the Monster Seats.
"He's fun to watch from afar,'' said Alex Cora before the game. "It's good for the sport. He's that good on both sides. It seems like the sport stops to watch him.''
While some complain that Trout isn't marketed well enough by MLB, Ohtani represents another -- perhaps bigger -- opportunity. Not only is he doing something without precedent, but he has obvious appeal to the global stage, with his roots firmly in a baseball-crazed country.
That discussion is for another time, however. This weekend offers a glimpse at someone achieving what hasn't been done i-- this well, at this level -- in more than a century. That alone is more than worth your attention.